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ARROW MAKING
Arrow making is an art in itself. Early primitive man used very crued tools and techniques to fasten their bow and arrows together. Today modern arrows are very straight, where as primitive arrows on the other hand were constantly being worked on, bent and twisted to keep them straight. Early archers would label their arrows so the could keep track of their straightest and best arrow. Today when you buy a set of arrows, it wouldn't matter if they were labeled or not, but some of us still have a tendacy to do so. Well were are going to make an arrow from scratch, so lets get started. First thing to do, is decide how long you want your arrows, for example most of your crossbows arrows would have averaged around a foot to 16". Where as a long bow would average from 24" to 32". I try to cut the raw shafts 4 to 6" longer than the arrows I am making. I start by going out and cutting about 15 or so raw shafts, I use maple, willow, and dogwood, dogwood being my favorite. For crossbow, the diameter would be from 3/8" to a 1/2". For a long bow the diameter would be 1/4" to 3/8". After I have cut the raw shafts, I start by peeling all the bark off. I make sure the shafts are as straight as possible to begin with, and check them for any hollowed out places or weak spots. Then I use a bungy cord tie down or piece of innertube or rubberbands to wrap around the bundle of raw shafts making sure it is tightly wrapped. Then I hang the shafts up inside a building for at least a couple months to dry. This will help to keep them straight. After they have dried over this period, I take them down and unwrapped them. Believe me they are far from being straight. When you look down they seem to go every which way when comparing them to a modern arrow shaft. The best way that works for me for straightening the arrow some more, is by building a small fire, or you could use a propane torch and hold the shaft a couple inches away from the flame in the area which is bent sharply. Dont' burn the wood, but as soon as the wood gets hot apply pressure to the bend in the opposite direction to straighten the shaft. It is almost impossible to get the wooden shafts perfectly straight. Now I use my sand rock to shape the arrow shaft and work it down to where the diameter is pretty much the full length of the shaft. You can use a piece of sand paper, but the sand rock works pretty efficient for me.
NOW TO UNDERSTAND THE ARROW
The fletching is the most important part of your arrow when it comes to flight and accuracy. I use the eastern 2 fletch, because it is the easiest for me to remember and to do. Here is a drawing that shows you how to cut out and fasten the fletching to your shaft. Native American idians used sinew, where as I will use dental floss. Recomendation, a quick way of fletching an arrow, is by using duct tape, this might sound funny, but it works quite well. The chinese would slot a small area about 1" long in the shaft and take a reed and run it thru the slot, then fold it down and tie the two open ends to the arrow shaft to make their fletching. The english also slotted an area in the shaft and ran a piece of thin leather thru it to make fletchings for their crossbow bolts. This is what I recommend for crossbow bolts. (refer to http://huntingsociety.org)
NOW FOR THE BROADHEADS
For broadheads, I like to use old heavy 55 gallon drums or better yet, an old hand saw to make them out of. The early broadheads,weren't that wide. In fact most of them were 3/4" or less. I like to go with at least 1" width and at least 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" long, not counting the 1" long insert piece that goes into the wooden arrow shaft. The way I insert the arrowhead into the shaft, is by using a thin saw blade, the thickness of the broadhead, and splitting the shaft down the center, about 3/4" of an 1". This will give me an area to wrap with dental floss to secure the broadhead in place, as shown in the picture below.
NOW FOR THE NOCK
For a crossbow I measure down 3/8" of an inch and wrap this end of the shaft about 10 to 15 times with dental floss, then with a good sharp knife, I round out the end of the shaft where the string will hit. For a long bow arrow, I will measure down about 3/8" of an inch and wrap the same way I did for the crossbow arrow. Then I will drill a 3/8" hole or bigger depending on the size of the string right above the wrapping, then I will use a sharp knife to remove the excess wood from hole to the end of the shaft, and this is where the shaft will fasten to the bow string, picture below, for example.
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